


every little thing

by yukjaem



Category: NCT (Band), WayV (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Pining, based on that one tiktok video "is kissing the homies gay", idiot best friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukjaem/pseuds/yukjaem
Summary: hendery purses his lips in contemplation. is the short-fleeting attention from strangers online truly worth his dignity?screwing his eyes shut, he takes a deep breath and hits post.
Relationships: Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 40
Kudos: 429





	every little thing

**Author's Note:**

> based on this tiktok video: [is kissing the homies gay?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaFyvDCvL5Y)
> 
> this is the first and hopefully last time i'll ever mention tiktok in a fic haha.

Like all things preceding unfortunate events, it starts with a TikTok video.

At first, Hendery downloads the app just to see what all the hype was about. He goes on it during class breaks, a few minutes before basketball practice, some time after dinner, but it’s not until he finds himself laughing his ass off at 2 am in the morning, that he admits he might be kind of addicted.

One thing leads to another, and he finds himself participating in one of Lucas’ videos alongside Yangyang (they do one of those sexy dance challenges that makes a part of Hendery cringe, while another part of him loves it), and the very next day, his friend texts him a screenshot of all the comments saying how cute he is and how they’d love to see more of him.

A week later, Hendery posts his first TikTok video of him dancing (it’s a bit stupid and his facial expressions are so incredibly weird), but people seem to like it. It doesn’t take long before his account kicks off. He starts posting once every week, sometimes more when he has a really good idea that he can’t wait to show off, or when he and his friends are bored and have nothing else to do. Even though Kun always shakes his head and Ten pretends to be too cool for TikTok, they all have fun acting like dumbasses for social media.

Things, however, take a turn for the worse when a few weeks later, Hendery notices that his recent videos haven’t been getting as much attention as his first few. He tries not to stress about it since it’s just TikTok, for fuck’s sake, but it’s hard. His follower count has been pretty much stagnant.

He finds himself still thinking about it as he and Lucas sit outside of bio, sharing a bag of Doritos while the rest of the class dissects a godforsaken frog.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Lucas asks, licking the Dorito dust off his long fingers. He pauses and tilts his head in concern. “You still feeling queasy about the frogs?”

“No.” Hendery shudders at the thought. He’s glad the teacher let them opt out of the lab. As long as he can’t see those slimy, disgusting things, he’s fine.

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just,” Hendery hesitates. “Never mind. It’s dumb.”

“Just tell me,” Lucas says, eyes wide like saucers. His bottom lip juts out a little bit, and he reaches out to grab Hendery’s hands. It should be gross, considering how his fingers are still sticky from the chips, but after five years of friendship, Hendery’s used to it.

“No, really, it’s not—”

“Tell meee.”

After a long but grateful sigh, Hendery relents, voicing his worries over his lack of growth on TikTok. It sounds even more trivial when he says it out loud, but Lucas takes him seriously, nodding at everything he says with a nonjudgmental look in his eyes.

“Take it easy,” Lucas says when Hendery finishes. “There’s no way you’re not gonna hit it big. You’re too pretty to go unnoticed.”

Hendery blinks. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Well, yeah,” Lucas says, as if it’s obvious. He gestures at him vaguely. “You look like you’ve stepped out of a freaking fairy tale. Like Prince Charming or something.”

Hendery glances down. Today, he’s wearing his lazy sweatpants and Adidas slides. He looks back up. “Really?”

Lucas makes a small noise of distress. “It’s not about the clothes, man. You’ve got this, like, presence. Plus, your hair is so soft and you have unbelievably long eyelashes and a really pretty nose. And don’t get me started on your smile…” Lucas trails off with a grimace, lightly hitting himself on the forehead. “What I mean to say is that you’re just like me.”

“Just like you?” Hendery repeats, not following.

Lucas puts his arm around Hendery’s shoulder, holding him close. “We’re both too good-looking for the girls  _ not  _ to love us.”

Seeing as Lucas has the most followers on TikTok out of their entire school, there must be a shred of truth in that statement. Hendery lets it go, resting his head onto Lucas’ shoulder as he reaches for the bag of chips. “Thanks,” he says simply, and Lucas hums in response.

Despite what Lucas said, Hendery has a feeling his best friend is a little biased. The next video he posts is still a miss, while Lucas’ goes viral, getting over a million likes. Lucas offers to give him a shout-out, but Hendery declines, not wanting to be a bother.

He turns to Yangyang instead for some new video ideas (which really, in hindsight, he should've known better).

Yangyang suggests for him to either take off his shirt or follow a TikTok trend. Since Hendery has yet to fully develop his abs, he goes for the latter.

“How about this one,” Yangyang says, showing Hendery a video on his phone. “It’s easy, unproblematic,  _ and  _ our friend group’s hot enough to get lots of likes.”

Somewhere, at the back of his mind, Hendery wonders what it says about him when some of his friends are such narcissists.

He watches the video, gets the gist of it, and doesn’t think much further before deciding to go for it. He turns on his camera during a study period in chem and asks Yangyang, “Is kissing the homies gay?”

Yangyang grins. “Hell no.”

“Kiss me on the cheek,” Hendery says, and just like that, he gets one. The rest of the class oohs and aahs until the teacher glares at them and tells them to shut the fuck up and get their asses back to work (in not so vulgar words but with just as much contempt).

He has English last, with Sicheng and Kun. 

“Is kissing the homies gay?”

Sicheng understands what he’s trying to do right away and cutely shakes his head.

“Kiss me on the cheek?” Hendery asks and smiles when Sicheng complies. He turns to Kun but before the words can even leave his mouth, the other teen sighs and says, “No.” He looks as if he wants nothing to do with him.

Hendery gets a kiss on the cheek anyway.

Later, he catches Xiaojun and Ten wandering the hallways. Xiaojun acts a bit flustered, while Ten is unimpressed, but they both relent and kiss him on either side of the cheek at the same time.

(“And if I’m gay?” drawls Ten.

“You can still kiss your homie,” Hendery replies seriously. Ten rolls his eyes, and that’s that.)

He asks a few more guys outside of his main friend group and none of them seem to mind, save for a few who give him a weird look and refuse to even reply to the first question, let alone kiss him on the cheek. Hendery doesn’t pay them much mind; he knows the matter isn’t worth pushing.

Their basketball coach is a bit of a hard-ass, so he doesn’t get the chance to film with Lucas until after practice. He follows his teammates as they trickle into the locker room one by one, peeling off his sweaty shirt with the rest of them and getting ready to wash up. He’s not planning to get his phone out until they’re all done, but Yangyang insists he corners Lucas right after his shower.

“If you can’t go shirtless, might as well have Lucas instead,” Yangyang points out, slamming the locker door shut beside Hendery’s.

“What if he’s not comfortable with that?” Hendery asks.

Yangyang whacks him on the back of the head because they both know Lucas likes showing off his body whenever he has the chance, whether it’s for TikTok or in the middle of a game (the girls always go wild), so there’s no reason why Hendery shouldn’t follow his advice. 

He showers as quickly as possible, washing only the essential parts before scrambling to put on his clothes. Just as he manages to pull his shirt down over his head, Lucas walks out of the shower stall, hair dripping wet and a towel wrapped around his lower region. Hendery’s seen his best friend in various states of undress over the years—he’s known Lucas since eighth grade, for fuck’s sake, when he used to go to the school gym during lunch and flex his noodle arms in front of the mirror while Hendery laughed at him in the back—but right now, he’s a bit intimidated. 

“What are you waiting for?” Yangyang whispers, shoving him forward.

Lucas breaks into a grin when he sees Hendery approach, then raises an eyebrow at the phone. Hendery takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing. He turns so that his back faces his taller friend and looks into the camera as he asks, “Is kissing the homies gay?”

For a moment, Lucas looks bewildered, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and there’s a beat of awkward silence in the locker room. Hendery innerly debates between waiting patiently for his answer or asking for a kiss on the cheek anyway, but before he can decide, Lucas steps forward. Without a word, he wraps an arm around Hendery and presses him against his bare chest.

“Dude, wait, what the f—” Hendery squeaks in embarrassment, cutting himself off when Lucas leans over his shoulder and ducks his head down to press a chaste kiss against his cheek. Hendery feels his face redden.

Lucas’ smirk is the last thing the camera catches before Hendery cuts the video. Immediately, he pushes against his best friend, who lets him go without a struggle.

“Well, I’m sure that one will get lots of likes,” Lucas says, running a hand through his hair with a smile. Hendery can’t help but stare as a droplet of water trails down his neck to the dip of his clavicle, merging with another droplet and travelling further down to the hard curves of his pectorals before finally reaching his well-defined abs. He really has grown since eighth grade. “Hello, eyes up here?” Lucas says, sounding amused. Hendery hears Yangyang snicker behind him.

Hendery nearly gets whiplash from how fast he jerks his head up. He clears his throat. “Yeah, I’m hoping people will like it. You went a little overboard though.”

Lucas gives an easy shrug. “Whoops.” He ruffles Hendery’s hair as he passes, slinging a clean shirt over his shoulder. He looks back, eyes bright and hopeful in a way that Hendery can’t quite understand. “Hey, wanna grab ice cream after? My treat.”

Whatever. He’ll figure it out eventually. Hendery pockets his phone with a small smile, his cheeks still slightly flushed. He falls into step beside Lucas. “Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” Yangyang calls after them, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Don’t mind me. Not like I want free ice cream too.”

Lucas waves him off. “Aren’t you lactose intolerant?”

“Dude, since when did that ever stop me from having  _ ice cream? _ It’s worth the extra trip to the bathroom,” Yangyang retorts, but he lets it go and mutters something about asking Kun instead.

Hendrey doesn't miss the way Lucas presses his palms together in thanks and Yangyang’s responding huff. He tries not to think about it.

Later that night, as Hendery edits the video, he finds himself in a dilemma. He knows the clip with Lucas is the best one by far and will likely catapult his own account into popularity, but at the same time, he hates the way the camera catches his red face and obviously flustered reaction. He doesn’t know why he reacted like that. Maybe it was because he knew he was being filmed.

Hendery’s thumb hovers over the delete button. As if on cue, Yangyang sends him a text.

_ Dumb Sheep: bro bro bro!! u better post lucas’ part if u really wanna get them followers _

Hendery stares at the message. It’s 2 am in the morning. He doesn’t know if he should be surprised, annoyed, or grateful. A mixture of all of them, he supposes. It’s not like Yangyang’s wrong. But is the short-fleeting attention he’ll get from strangers online truly worth his dignity?

Screwing his eyes shut, Hendery takes a deep breath and hits post.

If he regrets it the next day, then too bad. That’s a problem for future Hendery to blame on his past sleep-deprived self—and Yangyang. It’s always Yangyang’s fault, one way or another.

As expected, his phone is flooded with notifications when he wakes up the next morning. Hendery scrolls through the top comments, scowling at the fact that most of them either coo over his blushing face or rave on about Lucas’ body. Still, the video is a huge hit and as a result, some of his older videos start getting more engagement too. His follower count skyrockets.

After going through his other notifications—replying to a couple snaps with half-dazed selfies, checking the sudden influx of DMs from Instagram (oh, he forgot he linked his username in his TikTok bio), reading and choosing to ignore Yangyang’s spam messages—Hendery finally chucks his phone to the side and crawls out of bed.

“You better hurry,” his mom says when he finally pads into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes, hair mussed from sleep. “Lucas is already waiting outside.”

“What, this early?” Hendery squints at the clock, and  _ oh,  _ he’s the one who’s late. He purposely ignores his mom’s exasperated sigh when he stuffs a piece of bread in his mouth and rushes back upstairs to get changed. He’s out in less than five minutes, yelling a goodbye over his shoulder.

Lucas is on his phone, leaning against his red motorbike as he waits. He bought it two years ago using the money he earned from his first part-time job as a cashier (and the hefty allowance from his parents). Hendery remembers the first time he rode with Lucas; they sped through the night streets with Lucas hollering off the top of his lungs as Hendery clung onto him for his dear life. It felt stupid dangerous and Lucas wasn’t even legally allowed to carry a passenger at that time yet, but the adrenaline rush was worth it and they both couldn’t stop laughing afterwards.

“Hey, you look tired,” Lucas teases, tossing Hendery his helmet.

“I know, I know,” Hendery says as he clips on his helmet. He slides into place behind Lucas, locking his arms around his waist. “I didn’t have time to make coffee.”

“Wanna stop by Timmies?”

“Nah, I got a chem lab first thing. We’re not allowed to bring in any drinks.”

Lucas clicks his tongue in sympathy. They cruise along the suburban streets, the scenery flipping past like the pages of a picture book. Hendery yawns, letting himself relax to the familiar hum of the engine beneath them. He rests his head against the hard muscle of Lucas’ back and closes his eyes, melting into his friend’s warmth. Even though he doesn’t fall asleep, it feels like he’s dreaming.

“We’re here.”

Hendery straightens up at Lucas’ soft voice, seeing the school building come into view. They’re about two blocks away, but he can already tell from the amount of cars waiting at the stop light that it’ll be a pain to get into the parking lot. He takes out his phone.

“Fuck.”

“What’s up?” Lucas asks.

“Two minutes till the first bell,” Hendery explains, pocketing his phone. He eyes the traffic with bland resignation. “My chem teacher literally hates me. Knowing her, she’d dock off marks if I showed up late.”

“Surprised a teacher doesn’t like you for once.”

“I sit beside Yangyang,” Hendery deadpans, and he hears Lucas bite back a chuckle.

“Right,” he says. “Well, I can drop you off at the entrance then. That might save you some time.”

“Sounds good, thanks.”

Eventually, after what feels like ages, the light turns green again, and Lucas pulls up by the front doors of the school. Hendery hops off with ease, taking off his helmet and quickly combing a hand through his messy hair.

“Wait, you forgot something,” Lucas pipes up.

Hendery turns back, confused, since everything he can possibly need is already stuffed in his backpack. His fingers curl around the straps of his bag. “What do you mean—”

Lucas tucks his helmet beneath his arm and reaches out to grab Hendery’s chin. He presses his lips against his cheek. When he pulls back, he smiles that dreamy smile of his that Hendery’s seen directed at girls so many times, yet this one feels different, slightly softer and filled with fondness. For a moment, Hendery falters. His hands slowly drop to his side.

The effect is broken by how casually Lucas waves him off, quickly putting his helmet back on and hiding his face. “Catch you later,” he says, revving his bike engine and cutting in front of another car to get into the parking lot.

Hendery barely hears the  _ see you _ that leaves his own lips in answer. He stands there for a moment, stunned.

He finds himself hit, suddenly, with the myriad of possibilities. First, Lucas has a crush on him. This one, Hendery crosses out immediately. Not possible, especially since his best friend has the subtlety of a bulldozer and Hendery knows him well enough to tell if he’s hiding something. Second, Hendery has a crush on Lucas. Hendery purses his lips in consideration as he heads to the school doors. He spots Xiaojun, walking at a leisurely pace with a guitar case slung over his shoulder.

Xiaojun eyes him, and Hendery wonders if he saw what happened between him and Lucas.

“Hey?” Hendery tries for a smile. It’s a little shaky.

Xiaojun reaches for the door handle, shaking his head. “I’m not even gonna ask.”

Before Hendery can ask him what he means, the first warning bell rings. Cursing softly under his breath, he rushes past Xiaojun, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder on the way. After a trip to his locker on the third floor then back down to the second floor to get to his class, Hendery finally manages to slip into his seat beside Yangyang just in time as the second and final bell rings.

The chem teacher squints at him but doesn’t say anything. Her heels click ominously against the floor as she heads to the door and slams it shut, locking it automatically. Someone down the hallway lets out a hopeless squawk, too late. Hendery exhales in relief.

Yangyang toots, “Cutting it close, aren’t you.”

“It’s not my fault I got distracted by…” Hendery pauses with a small frown.

Anyway, the last and most reasonable explanation is that he’s blowing this way out of proportion and Lucas is simply, well, kissing the homie. On the cheek too, which is like, perfectly normal and socially acceptable. Yes, that must be it. Satisfied with this logic, he pushes it to the back of his mind and gets up. Yangyang gives him a pointed look, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

“Imma get our lab coats and goggles,” he says instead. Yangyang gives out a long withering sigh, slumping back into his seat as if physically pained. Hendery has no idea what his friend was expecting but he has a strong feeling that he doesn’t want to know.

Hendery expects it to be a one—maybe two or three at the most—time thing, yet somehow, it becomes a regular occurence. Nothing else changes; his best friend is still just as kind and generous as before, getting him coffee after chem class, carrying his books even though they’re not that heavy, offering him half of his clif bar during basketball practice. The only difference is that now, Lucas never fails to spontaneously kiss him on the cheek. 

“This could be a TikTok video,” Yangyang mentions when he witnesses it the second time, as Lucas pecks Hendery on the cheek before heading off to his own class. “Like, those cheesy best friends turned lovers kind of videos.”

“Shut up.” Hendery rolls his eyes, despite feeling his face heat up. He’s glad Lucas is already out of earshot. “We’re just friends. Seriously.”

“Sure. Just bros kissing bros. No homo, am I right?” is Yangyang’s skeptical reply.

Hendery feels no remorse when Yangyang later trips over his conveniently placed foot and crashes head first into a wall. Their chem teacher’s disapproving sigh can be heard from across the classroom. Hendery can’t bring himself to feel bad. Maybe if Yangyang hadn’t purposely gotten on his nerves, this wouldn’t have happened.

He’s not the only one to bring it up though.

Hendery agrees to meet up with Sicheng and Kun at the library to work on their English project, but since Lucas is his ride home and also happens to have a econ test coming up, the four of them sit together at the same table. Lucas mostly minds his own business, focusing on his textbook like the diligent student he is (and really, Hendery’s kind of proud of how much he’s improved his attention span over the years).

Hendery’s showing Kun the newest slide he added onto their PowerPoint, when he hears the sound of a page flipping, followed by a low hiss of pain. Without much thought, he puts his hand on the table. Lucas’s much larger palm covers his entirely, and Hendery brings it up, kissing the tip of his finger. Neither of them has to say a word.

“Am I the only one seeing this?” Sicheng asks bewilderedly and Kun hushes him, though he gives Hendery and Lucas another one of his many exasperated looks, this one translating to an emphatic  _ ‘Why are you two like this?’ _

Hendery stops mid-motion. “He has a papercut?” he says, as if that explains anything.

Lucas first asked him to kiss his bruised knee better at the skateboard park in ninth grade, and it’s been a tradition ever since. Bruises, scrapes, cuts—all they needed was a kiss. It wasn’t a big deal before and it shouldn’t be one now.

“Yup, I feel all better now, thanks,” Lucas says brightly. His hand drops to rest on Hendery’s thigh under the table. Again, absolutely normal.

Sicheng lets it go with a low, indistinguishable grumble. Kun brings his attention back to his laptop screen.

Hendery deliberately ignores the look they share when Lucas kisses his cheek before going to the bathroom. What, they’ve never seen homies kiss each other?

Homies or not, Hendery thinks he’s going insane. He can handle kisses on the cheek, though it does take some time for him to get used to it and Lucas only ever does it with him, for some reason. A kiss to make the pain go away is something they’ve been doing for years, so no biggie. And sure, Lucas can get extra touchy-feely when they’re chilling together with the other boys, wrapping his arms around Hendery and hooking his chin over his shoulder to use his phone, but none of it is ever enough to make Hendery think twice.

He can never say no to cuddling either so he always leans back into Lucas’ touch. Sometimes Lucas suddenly presses fluttering kisses on the nape of his neck and Hendery has to swat him away. Again, perfectly normal.

Then, lunch happens.

Hendery half pays attention to Ten’s daily rant about the school’s annual food price inflation (“Since when was a chocolate chip cookie worth five fucking dollars? Absolutely ridiculous. Shouldn’t we protest? Boycott or something?”), nodding along at the right moments but ultimately letting the others do most of the talking. He doesn’t have much to add when he’s always buying food from the cafeteria anyway.

“Hey,” Lucas greets, noisily throwing his lunch tray onto the table and sliding into his designated seat beside Hendery. He unwraps a chocolate chip cookie and shares half of it with Hendery.

Ten falters for a moment and wrinkles his nose in annoyance. “Anyway, as I was saying, about  _ boycotting _ —”

“I’m so tired,” Lucas groans loudly, resting his head against Hendery’s shoulder. His hair tickles against Hendery’s chin.

Hendery sighs, pushing him off gently. “Sleep more.”

“I can’t. I think I’m an insomniac.”

“I can help!” Ten cuts in brightly, voice saccharine sweet. He pushes his glasses up his nose rather menacingly, and Hendery already knows what’s coming next. “I have some sleeping pills and a crowbar. Which do you prefer?”

Lucas blinks blearily. He turns to Hendery. “Why is he so mean to me?”

“You kinda deserve it,” Hendery says. He takes a bite of the school cafeteria’s so-called chinese salad, which is just mildly spicy  _ lo mein  _ with a sprinkle of veggies and carrots. Not the worst but definitely not worth ten dollars. Maybe Ten was onto something. “You could try going on your phone less—”

“Hold on,” Lucas says. Hendery looks up questioningly. He inhales sharply when Lucas gets close, taking up his entire field of vision, their noses almost touching. He barely has time to realize what’s going on, sitting stock-still, taking in Lucas’ dark brown eyes, the faint freckles on his sun-tanned cheeks, his fluttering long lashes.

Hendery’s not sure if he can breathe.

Then Lucas backs away just as quickly and the world rushes back to normal. The cafeteria’s still bustling with noise, though the conversation at their table has died. Hendery feels his cheeks redden. The corner of his mouth tingles from Lucas’ fleeting touch.

“Um.”

“You had a little,” Lucas gestures vaguely at his face, not quite meeting his gaze, “bit of sauce.”

“Oh,” Hendery says numbingly. “Okay, thanks.”

“No problem,” Lucas replies, somewhat stilted. He pauses, looking around. No one else speaks up and he scratches the back of his neck. “You were saying something about my phone…?”

“Oh, yeah,” Hendery says, grappling at the lifeline back to normalcy. He clears his throat. “Try to stop using your phone at least an hour before bed. You might be able to fall asleep quicker plus you get a higher chance of like, lucid dreaming.” Never mind the fact that Hendery hasn’t lucid dreamt ever since he got TikTok. It’s a bit of a problem.

Lucas perks up. “Isn’t that when you can control your dreams? I’ve never had one before.”

“Yup! It’s actually pretty fun. I once dreamt we were all in a famous rock band.” Hendery twirls some noodles onto his fork and offers it to Lucas. “You were a guitarist, I was the drummer.” 

Lucas opens his mouth to take a bite. He finishes chewing and swallowing before asking, eyes wide, “Could you control my actions in your dream?” 

Hendery purses his lips. “Not really? It was more like, I was in control of my own actions and you responded the way I thought you would.”

At that, Lucas turns pensive. He lets out a hum, saying he’ll try it, and Hendery feeds him another bite. He hears someone snort (it sounds like Sicheng, but he’s not sure) and whips his head up, squinting at him. Sicheng stares back at him, deadpan. Now that he thinks about it, the rest of the table is also awfully quiet. Yangyang looks despaired, while Ten has a scary shit-eating grin on his face. It’s a bit disconcerting to see their usual expressions switched.

“What?” Hendery asks suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Ten singsongs. “I’m just glad I had so little faith in both of you.”

“Bro, I knew you were a dumbass, but like, not this much of a dumbass,” Yangyang bemoans, plopping his head into his arms. Xiaojun pats his shoulder comfortingly. “If you take any longer, I’m gonna lose so much money cuz of this stupid bet, oh my god.”

Hendery rolls his eyes. He has a sneaking feeling he knows what’s going on, but then Lucas lets out a strangled laughter and changes the topic, so he lets it go. For now, at least.

He’s not  _ that  _ oblivious.

(A week later, while lazing around in Hendery’s room, Lucas mentions, “I had a lucid dream last night.”

Hendery tilts his head. “How did it go?”

“Good. It was...good.”

“Yeah?” Hendery hums, pushing Lucas’ legs down so that he can lay his head down on his lap. “What was it about?”

Maybe it’s just him, but the sunset rays peeking through his window blinds hit Lucas at just the right angle, slanting down his cheeks and bringing out the molten gold in his eyes. Hendery tilts his chin up, nestling his head against Lucas’ muscular thighs. He licks his lips, not missing the way Lucas’ eyes flicker down for a moment before quickly looking elsewhere, landing on the Stranger Things poster on Hendery’s wall.

“Uh, you wanna start that new Netflix show? Outer Banks or something?” Lucas suggests. Pink dusts over the apples of his cheeks.

Hendery yawns. “It literally looks like any other trashy teen show but okay.”

While not great, it’s not as bad as he expected. The first episode is boring but it gets better after a while. Not really his type of show, but whatever. After a while, Hendery props himself up, stretching his legs out with his feet hanging over the edge of the bed. He fixes his eyes on the screen, but he can feel Lucas sneaking glances at him—which is strangely rewarding. A shiver crawls up his spine and before Hendery can do something dumb like break out of his comfort zone and do who-knows-what, he flops back against Lucas’ side and closes his eyes.

When Hendery wakes up, it’s the middle of the night, he’s alone, and his tv and the lights are turned off. He’s surprised Lucas didn’t stay the night like usual, and that he put a blanket on him before leaving. Hendery sighs wistfully and looks heavenward. His forehead tingles slightly but he’s not sure why.

Lucas never did answer his question.)

Hendery wipes the sweat sliding down his neck, taking a brief glance at the giant scoreboard on the gym wall. They’re behind the other team by only one point and they only have a few seconds left to make up for it. Yangyang manages to pass him the ball, but he’s too far from the hoop to land an accurate shot and the fucker on the other team prevents him from moving forward. Hendery swears, stuck in place.

It’s the basketball team’s final game in the tournament and even though Hendery’s never cared that much about the sport—at least not as much as Lucas or even Yangyang—he really, really doesn’t want to lose today.

He catches Lucas’s gaze from across the court and impulsively chucks the ball towards him. His breath catches in his throat at the half-haphazard throw, but Lucas catches it, somehow, and in one fluid motion jumps into the air, slamming the ball directly through the basket.

A second later, the buzzer sounds.

The crowd leaps to their feet, cheering and screaming at the sudden, seemingly miraculous win. Hendery spots their friend group jumping up and down on the bleachers, holding huge sparkly posters with their names on them, and he smiles, waving at them to come down. Though with the amount of people around, it’ll probably take some time before they’ll be able to reach them.

Yangyang rushes past him to join their team piling up on Lucas, who’s laughing on the ground at the edge of the court, welcoming the embraces. Hendery follows.

"We did it!" he hears Yangyang screech into his ear. “Won the fucking tournament, oh my  _ fucking  _ god!”

Hendery’s not sure how it happens, but despite joining in late, Lucas finds him in the fray, wrapping his arms around him, bringing him close. In a distant, pleasant sort of way, Hendery vaguely registers their lips meeting. His mind blanks. The only thing he can hear is the pounding of his heart against his chest.

Then Yangyang screeches into his ear again and he stumbles back, falling onto the floor. One of their teammates whistles loudly but no one really seems to care, too caught up with their own celebrations. A few guys even pat Lucas on the back while someone else helps Hendery up.

Lucas gets up unsteadily, eyes wide open as he stares at him. Hendery can read his face like an open book, every flicker of emotion printed with brewing guilt and uncertainty. His lashes flutter as he blinks, hesitating. He looks so scared, like he’s waiting for rejection, and just like that, Hendery’s thoughts clear.

His legs push him forward and he reaches out, tugging down on Lucas’ jersey. Everything sets back to place: the gym lights shining down above them, the warmth between their bodies, the taste of Lucas’ soft, plush lips, this very moment.

Then Hendery gasps into their kiss, arms flying up to Lucas’ neck when Lucas suddenly grabs his thighs and lifts him up. Hendery instinctively wraps his legs around Lucas’ waist, his heart thudding against his chest. A small part of him is embarrassed—because, wow, they’re really making out in the middle of a gym after a basketball game.

They part after a little bit, and Hendery rests his sweaty forehead against Lucas’, slightly out of breath. 

“This kinda defeats the whole purpose of saying it’s not gay to kiss the homies,” Hendery says jokingly.

Lucas tilts his head back. His laughter is open and unfettered. Hendery might be in love and he can’t believe it took him this long to realize it. 

“Good thing we’re not homies,” Lucas says with a wink.

“Then what are we?” Hendery asks, raising an eyebrow. They’ve been certified best friends for five years, but he guesses it’s never too late for a change.

“Hm, I don’t know.” Lucas pretends to think for a moment. “Wanna be my boyfriend?”

“Only if you buy me ice cream.”

“Deal.”

He can hear their friends’ voices around them, having finally arrived on scene. Judging by Ten’s smug voice and the resounding groans, it sounds like he won the bet. Yangyang’s complaints are loud enough for Hendery to know they’re directed at him.

“After all I’ve done for you two, even giving you the idea for that stupid TikTok video, this is how you repay me? By taking forever to get together and making me lose this stupid bet?”

“You were the one who started it,” Kun says disapprovingly. “And I did tell you not to bet that much money.”

At Yangyang’s indignant squawk, Hendery grins and mouths a  _ thanks  _ over Lucas’ shoulder. Yangyang rolls his eyes and flips him the finger. 

“No matter how long it took or how difficult the journey was, all that matters is that they’re together now,” Xiaojun says sagely, and he’s met with unanimous grumbles of agreement.

(At night, the adrenaline rush fades away and it’s just the two of them, fingers entwined beneath the blankets. Lucas buries his face into Hendery’s bare chest and mumbles something he can’t quite decipher.

“What did you say?” Hendery asks, tickling his sides until Lucas looks up. The edges of his eyes crinkle when he smiles, gentle creases that reflect the gentleness of his personality.

“This is way better than any lucid dream,” he says seriously, and Hendery laughs.

And well, he’s not wrong.)

**Author's Note:**

> does this even make sense? i don’t know. i wanted to write something for fun so this happened. it ended up being way longer than i anticipated though T_T
> 
> comments and kudos are, as always, much appreciated! (especially since this is such a rarepair rip). <3


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